Tuesday
JUST TWO MONTHS UNTIL INAUGURATION DAY
WITH JUST TWO MONTHS UNTIL NEXT
INAUGURATION DAY, PEOPLE ARE
BEGINNING TO ASK QUESTIONS
AND ACT CONCERNED
Since November 4, Election Day, we have adopted
a "wait and see" approach to the administration of
our new president, reminding our readers that as yet
he hasn't done anything, good or bad. All we know
for sure are the promises he made during the l-o-n-g
campaign. But politicians' "campaign promises" are
often forgotten immediately after they are made. That
is a fact; it is part of the American political system.
But suppose, just for a moment, that president-
elect Barack Obama actually does fulfill the promises
-- the pledges to the American people -- which were
made during the campaign.
First of all, any such fulfillment is still two months
away, almost to the day -- January 20, 2009,
Inauguration Day. Other significant intervening dates
include one with a very unique determination: "the
first Monday after the second Wednesday in
December" -- this year it is December 15 when the
Electoral College votes to actually elect the new
president. And then those votes have to be counted
in a joint session of Congress, which will occur on
January 6, and then, two weeks later, Barack Hussein
Obama will be formally sworn in as the President of
the United States. Only then can he begin to fulfill or
ignore the campaign promises.
Already, observers are concerned about what
may happen after January 20. In the New Media
Journal, Lance Farchok, expressed the concern that
Christians must share: "Our opponents, the Socialist
Democrats, have considered themselves at war
with America for a very long time. Obama has been
careful to candy coat it with words like “hope”
and “change” ... Their hatred of us is palpable in
their literature and their public comments... there is
a malevolent nihilism in all they do, a destructive
urge that seeks to undermine all that has come
before--culture, history, religion, tradition, custom,
honor, even morality."
There are many causes for concern. For example,
there is Obama's oft repeated campaign promise that
he would pull all combat troops out of Iraq within 16
months of taking office. This promise may come back
to haunt him. Even now as "president-elect" and in
two months as the president, he is going to face great
pressure to abandon his pledge to withdraw. The
possible confrontation with the military command
may well be the most dramatic event of Obama’s
first few weeks in office. He may never have had
any real intention of pulling out before the job in Iraq
is done. But he made that promise again and again,
and it may be that he will have to fulfill it. To do so
will require great boldness, decisive action and skillful
diplomacy But as one observer said, "It will also
require an incredible amount of stupidity." Either
way, it is a matter to cause us grave concern.
Then there is our relationship with Israel. It is
only about a month since Jesse Jackson spoke about
the change in US policy toward Israel under an
Obama presidency. At the World Policy Forum in
Evian, France, and as reported in the New York Post,
Jackson said that although, "Zionists who have
controlled American policy for decades remain
strong, they will lose much of their clout when
Obama enters the White House." Jackson
promised fundamental changes in U.S. foreign policy,
and said the most important change would occur in
the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's
interests first" would end.
More recently, a senior Obama adviser told the
London Times that Obama will throw his support
behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative that calls on
Israel to revert to its pre-1967 borders in return for
official diplomatic recognition by the Arab world.
Under the plan, among other conditions, Israel
would restore the Golan Heights to Syria, and
Palestinians would be allowed to establish a state
capital in east Jerusalem. Again, in just these
preliminary reports there is case for concern.
And this doesn't touch on moral issues such as
replacing traditional marriage and the family, the
basic unit of our society, with "same-sex marriage."
But remember that In 1996, Congress passed the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was
signed into law by Bill Clinton and which defined
marriage as between one man and one woman. But
candidate Obama promised that repeal of DOMA
would be one of the first acts of his administration.
However, in recent years voters in 30 states have
added state constitutional amendments establishing
traditional marriage in their states, by an average
majority of nearly 70%. In this last election three
states adopted such amendments, prompting a
nationwide protest by homosexual militants who have
attacked churches and individual Christians who dare
to stand for the Biblical standard, and to accept the
votes of the American people. As president, Obama's
action on this issue is another cause for our concern.
Chuck Colson, writing in Breakpoint, Nov. 13, said:
"This is an outrage. What hypocrisy from those
who spend their time preaching tolerance to the
rest of us. How dare they threaten and attack
political opponents? We live in a democratic
country, not a banana republic ruled by thugs."
And his promised support of "abortion rights" is
another matter of concern. As a candidate, he told a
Planned Parenthood conference that the first thing he
would do as President would be to sign the Freedom
of Choice Act (FOCA),.introduced in Congress in
2004. It would remove all restrictions on abortion in
the United States, both on the state and federal level.
Besides going against all Christian standards, this
action is strongly opposed by the Catholic church,
many of whose members voted for Obama. This is
a matter of serious concern for all Christians.
And those are just a few items on the agenda of
the new president which concern us as Christians,
even though action on them -- and others -- is still
two months or more in the future.
A change in presidential spiritual advisors seems
to be in the works. Peter LaBarbera, anti-homosexual
activist, comments, "It looks like Billy Graham has
been replaced by a gay bishop." The London Times
reports that Obama sought out New Hampshire
homosexual bishop Vicki Gene Robinson for advice
during his presidential campaign. Robinson says in their
three private conversations, Obama voiced his support
for "equal civil rights" for homosexuals. We Christians
may be concerned, but must wait to see what happens.
And not from an American Founding Father:
We cannot expect the Americans to jump from
capitalism to Communism, but we can assist
their elected leaders in giving Americans small
doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to
find they have Communism." -- Soviet Leader,
Nikita Khrushchev, 1959
Not worried about "small doses" of socialism?
Perhaps we should be just a little concerned.
But from a real Founding Father: "No country
upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain
these blessings than United America. Wondrously
strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed
would it be, were we to neglect the means and to
depart from the road which Providence has
pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will
ever come to pass." -- George Washington, 1788
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
In Minnesota, comedian Al Franken is facing a
voting recount in his race with Republican Senator
Norm Coleman. Two years from now we may see
another show business personality in a senate race if
MSNBC news host Chris Matthews decides to run
against Republican Senator Arlen Specter in
Pennsylvania. Matthews says that he has always
wanted to be a senator, and it just so happens that
his TV contract expires next year.
Speaking of MSNBC ... the network was recently
victim of a hoax, but one to which they gave great
publicity. It concerned the story that vice presidential
candidate Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country
rather than a continent. False. The so-called "expert
in international affairs," Martin Eisenstadt -- also said
to be a Fellow in the Harding Institute -- was invented
by two hoaxers. And the "Harding Institute" is nothing
but an Internet website set up in 2007. The nation's
elite news services do not seem to improve with age.
Another way to solve the problem of diminished
church attendance. The Associated Press reports
that one suburban church is hoping to solve its
shrinking membership problem not by changing the
message, but by changing the buildings. A church in
White Plains, NY -- St. Bartholomew's -- plans to
remove two dozen pews from the sanctuary creating
a more intimate setting. According to the rector,
"Changing our sanctuary space changed the way
people feel in the church. It's an important start."
Exodus of Bible believers from Episcopal Church
escalates. The theologically conservative Diocese of
Fort Worth, TX, has voted to split from the liberal-
leaning Episcopal Church, USA -- the fourth diocese
to do so in recent weeks. About 80 percent of
clergy and parishioners in the diocese supported the
break. Bishop Jack L. Iker laid blame for the split
on what he described as "a church that is increasingly
unfaithful and disobedient to the word of God... it
is time to say enough is enough." A new Bible believing
American Anglican church appears to be on the horizon.
And from a Founding Father, and a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, "Patriotism is as
much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for
the support of societies as natural affection is for
the support of families." -- Benjamin Rush, 1773
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